Toe-tapping bluegrass and gospel musical back in Zelienople

ZELIENOPLE - "Smoke on the Mountain," a marvelously fun, mostly upbeat musical, is returning to Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople this weekend.

It debuted last spring and was a hit with audiences.

The play, set in the late 1930s in a Baptist church in rural North Carolina, will transport the audience, which becomes the congregation, to a simpler time. The music is toe-tapping bluegrass and gospel presented by the Sanders family, a traveling evangelist group, all played by Calvin Church's talented cast.

"Smoke on the Mountain," conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie Ray, first appeared Off-Broadway in the late '80s, then moved into regional theaters across the nation.

It's a concert of old-time Christian hymns presented by the Sanders family that will make you laugh, offer you hope and leave you wanting to hear more, said cast member Karen Cramer.

"It is a delight to do this play," she said. "I can't say enough about the talent that Bruce Smith and Toni Schlemmer bring to this ministry. They are wonderful."

Smith is the musical director and Schlemmer is the drama director.

Cramer said the plays by the Calvin Drama Ministry are mainly staged by members of the church, but occasionally others join them and are always welcome.

"God always sends the right people," Cramer said.

Cramer is cast as June Sanders in "Smoke on the Mountain."

"In the original play, June is a child, but I'm way too old to play a child," Cramer said. "In our production, June is single and is attracted to the preacher."

Cramer said she never appeared on stage in high school or college, but she was interested in theater and sewed costumes and worked back stage.

"I was always so shy that I didn't think I could get on stage and do that, and now I am, 'Don't stand in front of me.'

"It is never too late to try something that you want to do," she said.

Cramer, a member of Calvin Presbyterian Church, has

been a choir member for 31 years. The last five years, she's directed the children's choir, which presents a Christmas musical and sings occasionally on Sundays.

In 2006, Cramer re-tired after teaching first grade for 35 years at Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School in the Seneca Valley School District. She lives in Zelienople with her husband, the Rev. Stephen Cramer, pastor at Cross Roads Presbyterian Church in the Gibsonia area.

He played Jesus in "Godspell" all four times it was performed at Calvin Presbyterian Church.

The Calvin Drama Ministry has been presenting a spring show for about 20 years.

The ministry began in the 1980s with a Passion play. That evolved into a musical for elementary-age children, and then for high school-age young people. In the 1990s, the drama ministry became an adult-centered group.

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